I have been reading about blending hop varieties together. For instance a "German" blend might be 1 oz. each of Hallertau, Saaz, Spalt, Styrian Goldings, N. Brewer, Tettnanger. Does anyone do this. The philosophy is to extract the best of the best flavors and aromas. Of course you would not use this blend for Bittering but for flavor and aroma. And you could create an English blend or American blend using appropriate hop varieties.

Basically you would mix them all together and dole them out as needed. So you would have a packet of 6 oz. blend and weigh out in the 1/2 or 1 oz. incrments as needed.

I have found that unique hop schedules and blends can make some really interesting beer.

Playing with hop blends is something I do from time to time. I have American hop blends, German hop vlends, English hop blends. I will soon begin to dabble with mixed country blends, like a Mt hood, Willamette, East Kent Golding, Saaz, Northern Brewer. My experience is just about anything works, just put a little thought into what you like. The reason that I do this is to get hop complexity, rather than create an intense one-dimensional character.

Something i keep in mind is that some hops are more subtle than others. For example, I wouldn't blend Cascade with Saaz at a one-to-one ratio because the Cascade would dominate, but then again I suppose that some people would want that. On the other hand, I would go one to one with something like Casade, Mt Hood, Hallertau, and Saaz. This would be because of the similar character of Mt Hood and Hallertau. This is something else to keep in mind. Some hops are closely related to other hops, so to get something complex you might need to know a little about the 'parents' of some hops. For exmple, American Mt Hood came from German Hallertau.

I smell alot of hops and try to keep their smells and tastes in my head, but if I can't place a hop then I usually go to either BYO.com or to Brewmaster's Bible by Stephen Snyder. I have begun to keep partially full hop bags in the fridge, just so I know for sure what a certain hop smells like.

The other thing that I like doing with hops is adding them at various times during the boil. I find that by spreading the hops additions throughout the entire boil I get well-rounded hop characteristics, as the bitterness marries with the flavor better. I am particularly fond of this schedule in pale ales and pilseners. Yet Another Urquel clone is an example of one such schedule.

Azorean Brewer -- I do exactly what you describe, mix different hops together in one bucket and then measure them out in small amounts, in an IPA that I make. It's fantastic. The interesting thing is that it's subtly different every time I make it because of the mixing of the hops. Mine uses Amarillo, Cascade, and Centennial for everything -- bittering, flavor, aroma. I made one two days ago, nine hop additions. The blowoff tube smells great!

Here's a link to a previous version, which used Simcoe as a nominal bittering hop and then the blend: Ultimate Hop Hourglass JPA. Enjoy!

Thanks for all of the input. I think I will try it, I will stay true to country to start with, either all German or all British or all American hops. I think I will make two seperate blends for each country that I need, one for bittering (higher AAU) and one for flavor / Aroma ... Regardless, I think this topic has some interesting outcomes ...

i almost skipped this one, but i had to throw in my 2 cents. i love the combination of tettnager and northernbrewer. id say they are my fave for dry hop and flame out additions. try a blend of the two you wont regret it.

I have one of Sam's original organoplectic hop transducers (Randall the Enamel Animal)... At least with the original design, the tube is long enough that by controlling the pressure drop by restricting the hose sizing on the output (much like a "choker" used on all properly designed draft systems) it does not foam the beer much. However, when you first charge it, it takes a good while to purge all of the air from the hops so it can be a beer waster. Once the air is gone, then the CO has to reach equillibrium within the chambers & hoses, so it continues for a bit then settles down nicely. I wouldn't try to use on on less that a 1/4 barrel if you want much beer left to drink! Now, this applies to the real McCoy, I haven't tried the simplified and scaled down one, but I suspect due to the greatly reduced surface area, it does not waste nearly as much beer.